kmpm/adding-pixel-to-raspbian-lite.md

## adding-pixel-to-raspbian-lite.md

      
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              adding-pixel-to-raspbian-lite.md
            
          
    Adding PIXEL/GUI to Raspbian Lite

These 'notes' were primarily intended for my own consumption but since
there have been surprisingly many comments to it over the years I wanted
to do some updates and clarifications. Thanks for all comments.
These instructions will require you to have connection to internet from your
pi, WiFi, Ethernet or by some other means like a 3G USB dongle or something.
Preparations

Download and flash Raspbian Lite as normal. Run raspi-config and setup whatever
you would to for console only mode. I usually change password, hostname
and activate SSH server as a initial setup.
Adding wifi from console (optional)

This can be done in at least 2 ways and I would recommend using raspi-config but
you could also...
Edit wpa_supplicant manually

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
Add the bottom of the file
network={
  ssid="YOUR_SSID"
  psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
}

Save and reboot
Touchscreen

If you have any other that the original Raspberry Pi touchscreen you might
have to install the correct drivers.

https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show
If you have something from adafruit, perhaps have a look at https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-28-inch-resistive-touchscreen-display-raspberry-pi

Rotate Touchscreen (optional)

These instructions are for the original Raspberry Pi touchscreen and if you have to change
it's rotation, wich you might have to do depending on the case you mount it in.

Edit /boot/config.txt on the newly flashed card and add the line
lcd_rotate=2 at a location of your choice in the file.
Save and reboot

Run all updates

Reduces that anything goes wrong int the following steps
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

# you only have to reboot if there were any updates that needed it
# if unsure do it anyway
sudo reboot
Adding GUI

This will get you a really stripped down PIXEL installation
Tested on Jessi and Stretch
sudo apt-get install -y raspberrypi-ui-mods rpi-chromium-mods
sudo reboot
This will pull in all packages needed for GUI + rpi modified Chromium web browser
and is all you need for a "basic" setup. It will take some time though. The download
will go fast but decompressing and installing is tough even on a Rpi 3.
I will do some tests but you might have to install lightdm manually using
sudo apt-get install lightdm as well. It should be a part of the installation
of raspberry-ui-mods though.
There might be some issues with icons being installed for programs that isn't installed and
when new programs not showing up in the menu. This is probably due to some missing package
that I yet have to figure out which one.
Enable autologin (optional)

If you want autologin you have to run raspi-config again and select
"Boot option"->"Desktop / CLI"->"Desktop autologin"
Xinit (optional)

If you do not want autologin but want to be able to start the gui manually
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xinit
so that you can boot to the console start the desktop as required using the command startx.